Malcolmology 101, #14: The NOI and George Lincoln Rockwell

Mon, 2011/03/07 - 11:13pm — Editor

Although George Lincoln Rockwell, founder of
the American Nazi Party (ANP), may have seemed ideologically incongruous
with the attitudes and theology of the Nation of Islam, both he and
Elijah Muhammad found reasons in the early 1960s to coordinate and
discuss strategies of racial separation. In one of the more bizarre
pairings since Marcus Garvey sat down with KKK imperial wizard Edward
Young Clarke in 1922, Rockwell and the NOI had a standing relationship
for the better part of two years in which he and the ANP attended
several meetings and wrote articles supporting the black separatist
group. Although Malcolm X was always uncomfortable with the
relationship, Rockwell had little trouble finding common ground; just a
year after Malcolm’s assassination, in an interview with Alex Haley,
Rockwell pronounced: “Malcolm X said the same thing I’m saying.”

The coalition between the ANP and NOI was not
without precedent. Earlier in 1961, Malcolm and Minister Jeremiah
Shabazz had secretly met with the KKK in Atlanta, just as Garvey had
done nearly 40 years earlier. The meeting’s purpose was to secure
farmland in the south for NOI business ventures while forming a pact of
non-aggression with the local Klan. The formal declaration of the ANP’s
relationship with the Nation came at a “Freedom Rally” in Washington
D.C. at Uline Arena before a crowd of 8,000. Rockwell and twenty “storm
troopers” gathered to hear Malcolm X deliver a speech entitled
“Separation or Death.” Rockwell stated that he disagreed with the
Muslims only on the point of land: “They want a chunk of America and I
prefer that they go to Africa.”

In January 1962, Rockwell wrote to his followers in the Party’s newspaper, The Rockwell Report,
that Elijah Muhammad “has gathered millions of the dirty, immoral,
drunken, filthy-mouthed, lazy and repulsive people sneeringly called
‘niggers’ and inspired them to the point where they are clean, sober,
honest, hard working, dignified, dedicated and admirable human beings in
spite of their color.” The following month, Rockwell was invited to
attend the NOI’s sacred yearly convention, Saviour’s Day, in Chicago.
There he addressed the crowd of 12,000 in full Nazi regalia, stating
that “no American white desires to intermix with black people.” He then
contributed twenty dollars to a collection plate being passed around;
when Malcolm X asked who had given the money one storm trooper shouted
“George Lincoln Rockwell,” who then stood to take a smattering of
applause. Malcolm chided, “You got the biggest hand you ever got.”
Rockwell’s appearance at NOI functions dwindled, but he was spotted in
May of 1963 at the Los Angeles trial following the death of mosque
member Ronald Stokes. Certainly the affinity between the NOI and the ANP
was not well-conceived and Malcolm X later used the meeting with the
KKK as leverage against Elijah Muhammad once their relationship had
soured. But, the continued negotiations with white racists during a time
in which blacks in the South were being beaten, harassed and murdered,
is one of the most disturbing in the history of the NOI and Malcolm X’s
career.